when I first got into Buddhism many moons ago, I wanted to set up an altar. I had no pictures or thangkas of Tara, so I hung a Playboy centerfold over my altar. To me, she was Tara. its all in the way you look at it.

Thoroughly tame your own mind.This is (possibly) the teaching of Buddha.

gad rgyangs, That is unusual. Out of all the pictures you could have chosen, lots of pictures of perhaps wholesome women or smiling mothers? Still I take your point all women are divine or represent the divine mother. The old saying 'as you are so is the world' is apt here. It all starts and ends with the mind but you have to be ripe and true.

maxaroni13 wrote:I need help quitting pornography I would love to be celibate someone please provide me with prayers I can do aspirations or resources or just encouragement Ty namaste

probably you don't want to be celibate. Pornography is experienced differently by different people but if it is a problem: consider, what are the karmic consequences of pornography and indulging in pornography? Some people say there are no real consequences, but if you like sex then this plants a seed for further indulgence. What are the karmic consequences for the people who are involved in pornography. They often experience suicide and drug addiction and for some sexual illness at much higher rates than their respective counterparts. Like all people, they want to be liked and do something they are good at. Many have found it (I'm being serious here) so if they have a perception that they are popular as a result they often continue producing porn. Some of those people then have increased opportunity for simple negative behaviors like suicide, drug addition, etc. to say nothing of increased negative interpersonal issues (this depends on people's personalities of course, but increased interpersonal and verbal violence is not unusual).

Then, does pornography satisfy you? If it did, you would view it once or a few times and never return to it. Instead for most people it's like drinking salty water. Then the Mahayana teachings often use a formula that goes like, for each moment of a negative action, you experience the karma for 500 lifetimes. In fact karma depends on the motivation, intensity of the action and the underlying defiled emotion. Most pornography indulgence is setting people up for rebirth in the animal or hungry ghost realms but there are a couple of hells specific to sexual misconduct. At any rate, pornography is not a path to higher rebirth (human, asura or god realms) and is always a path to lower rebirth (animal, hungry ghost or hell realm).

Then think about why you like pornography. The actual reasons can vary for people but the answers are often surprising to people. In general indulgence in pornography is not just due to normal sexual curiosity although it can begin that way. But actual indulgence in pornography is a desire for something other and can be a result of lower self-esteem (which is often repeated but for many people really is true). However you are a child of the Buddha's so you might want to think about that.

Then, is there a possibility of embarrassing the Buddha's? They can't be embarrassed but other people may call Buddhism into disrepute as a result of your actions. This happens with sincere practitioners of all religions of course but this idea of embarrassing the Buddha's comes from Milarepa so it is something to be considered. Another version would be, are the Buddha's pleased with pornography addiction?

So basically pornography is a form of harming yourself and others and not a way of helping yourself and others.

There are many things you can do, there is advice on this in the sutras: Firstly, You have to think of something else. As a buddhist you should be convinced that there are three realms in Samsara. Above the desire realm (Kamadhatu) there are the form realms (Rupadhatu) and formless realms (Arupyadhatu). You must constantly remind yourself that these higher realms exist. You can repeat their names to yourself. You can visualize them. You must find out how your mind gets distracted from the object of remembering, when it has forgotten the idea of the higher realms. And remedy this habit of getting sidetracked. You can think and visualize that all sense objects are transitory. You can visualize all porn objects as 60 years old, as 70 years old, as sick on their death beds, as corpses waiting to be cremated.You should remember that Nirvana is beyond time, beyond birth and death, and that nirvana is peaceful.With repetition it becomes easy, it will take time, it requires constancy of effort.

gad rgyangs wrote:when I first got into Buddhism many moons ago, I wanted to set up an altar. I had no pictures or thangkas of Tara, so I hung a Playboy centerfold over my altar. To me, she was Tara. its all in the way you look at it.

How wonderful.For a crude person this is disrespectful. For a respectful person this is attunement. I could not do this. You did. It worked.

gad rgyangs wrote:when I first got into Buddhism many moons ago, I wanted to set up an altar. I had no pictures or thangkas of Tara, so I hung a Playboy centerfold over my altar. To me, she was Tara. its all in the way you look at it.

maxaroni13 wrote:I need help quitting pornography I would love to be celibate someone please provide me with prayers I can do aspirations or resources or just encouragement Ty namaste

The problem is the "addiction" not the "porn". You have to address the underlying reasons why you are not fulfilled. Going to war with the behavior without addressing the underlying causes for engaging in it will never succeed. Ask yourself the hard questions about where you are going and what you want from your life. Make small daily steps to get there and avoid the things that take you away from it and you will naturally develop a more whole state of mind that is less prone to addiction.

maxaroni13 wrote:I need help quitting pornography I would love to be celibate someone please provide me with prayers I can do aspirations or resources or just encouragement Ty namaste

Whichever enlightened being(s) you feel connected with, pray to them. Tara's mantra and her obstacle-removing prayer would be good.

I recommend you start practicing some form of exercise for the physical and subtle bodies. Such as yoga, qi gong, tai chi, etc. Exercise in general is good, but in particular it would be great if the exercise can also help you circulate or transform your sexual energy. Many forms of qi gong are easy to learn.